This is a specific conversation about Dog hiking gear — what you actually need — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
A shifting pack is one of the most frustrating problems on a trail — it throws the dog's balance off and usually means the fit isn't accounting for the dog's chest shape. Irish Setters have a deep, narrow chest and a lot of shoulder movement when they move at pace, which makes a generic saddle-bag style pack almost impossible to keep centred on uneven ground. The essentials for hiking with a dog are a well-fitting harness, a collapsible water bowl, and — depending on terrain — possibly boots, because paw protection on rocky or hot ground matters more than most people realise. To point you toward the right pack this time: what's your Setter's chest girth, how technical is the terrain you're typically hiking, and how long are your usual hikes?
His chest is about 75cm. We mostly hike in the Scottish Highlands — so rocky, boggy, lots of scrambling. Usually 8 to 12 miles. The old pack was a no-brand thing and it just rotated sideways every time he scrambled up anything steep.
inparticular.ai
That makes complete sense. No-brand packs almost always use a single chest strap and a loose belly band, which is fine on flat paths but hopeless the moment a dog is lunging uphill or picking their way across boulders. At 75cm chest on a deep-chested breed doing 8–12 mile Highland days, you need something with a proper sternum panel and load-stabilising straps that actually grip the torso. What was the old pack's weight capacity, and how much are you looking to carry — just water and a first aid kit, or a meaningful share of the day's supplies?
Ideally he carries his own water, a collapsible bowl, maybe a small first aid kit. So not massive, but it needs to stay put. Weight isn't really the issue — the shifting was just completely distracting and I kept having to stop to straighten it.
inparticular.ai
Got it — load stability is the priority, not raw capacity. My clear recommendation is the Ruffwear Palisades Pack. It's the best option for exactly this situation: it uses an integrated harness chassis rather than straps thrown over a collar harness, which means the whole thing moves with the dog's body instead of pivoting around it. The sternum and belly straps have proper adjustment points and the panniers are balanced and removable. At 75cm chest you'd be looking at a Large, which fits the Setter's frame well. It's available on Amazon UK. It's not cheap, but it's built for technical terrain and the fit system is genuinely different from anything in the budget bracket — which is exactly what's been failing you.
That looks good actually. Is it okay for wet conditions? The Highlands are basically always wet.
inparticular.ai
Yes — the Palisades uses Ruffwear's standard weather-resistant materials and the panniers have roll-top closures, so the contents stay dry even in sustained rain. The harness chassis itself dries quickly and won't degrade with repeated soaking. One thing worth doing in wet conditions: pack his water in a soft flask rather than a rigid bottle, because it conforms to the pannier shape better and keeps the load sitting lower and more centred. That extra few centimetres of centre of gravity does make a real difference on scrambles.
Really helpful, thank you. I'll go with the Large Palisades.
inparticular.ai
Good choice. One last tip — do the first fit at home and walk him around the house with some weight in the panniers before you hit the trail. The straps bed in slightly once loaded, so a quick readjust after 10 minutes of movement will get you dialled in before you're three miles from the car. Enjoy the Highlands.
